The Phenomenology of Air Malte Wagenfeld Atmosphere…“it is some kind of sensuous emission of sound, light, heat smell, and moisture; a swirling climate of intangible effects generated by a stationary object.”1
Can air be a design typology in itself? Air envisaged as an atmosphere that is in constant flux - carrying breezes, fresh or warm, smells, sounds and moisture, and having properties of density and weight; air envelops us with sensory effect. If these perceptual qualities of air are explored, their potential effect imagined, played with and manipulated, then it opens the possibility for a new realm of design; the design of an intangible formless medium. This idea lies at the centre of my investigation ‘The Aesthetics of Air’2, a phenomenological exploration into the qualities of air and the ensuing possibilities these hold for designing interior atmospheres. The concept of aesthetics in the context of this investigation considers the qualities of the perceptual encounter and the physiological and psychological effect that this engenders. As Gernot Böhme writes, “aesthetics of atmosphere shifts attention from the ‘what’ something represents, to the ‘how’ something is present. In this way, sensory perception as opposed to judgment is rehabilitated in aesthetics and the term – ‘aesthetic’ is restored to its original meaning, namely the theory of perception.”3
The focus of my investigation is internal spaces and the phenomenology of the interior, but the investigation draws inspiration from the infinite variation and quality of atmospheric encounters in open air environments; encounters that can range from delicate, casual and poetic, to exhilarating, dramatic, threatening and destructive. The pertinent characteristics of outside air, which we may describe as ‘natural air’, are the random, apparently chaotic, fluctuations of velocity, direction, temperature, density, moisture and so on.
My hypothesis is that in favorable climatic circumstances this transient, highly randomized emergent atmospheric system is what makes the experience of the outside atmosphere so sensuous and pleasurable, and that this is applicable for designing interior atmospheres. This hypothesis is however in direct opposition to the established mainstream thermal
comfort theory that for over fifty years has determined, and continues to determine, the interior atmosphere of the majority of architectural projects.
Although the focus of this paper is the investigation into the phenomenology of air, I will first set out a few points to contextualize and locate this topic within a larger framework. In very concise terms established thermal comfort theory as enshrined in standards such as ASHRAE
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and practiced by the large majority of HVAC5 engineers, stipulates a solid state
atmosphere of standardized and controlled air temperature, movement and humidity. These atmospheric coordinates are set within a very narrow envelope of 23.5 ± 1.5 ° C with a moderate humidity (RH = 50%) and minimal air movement, less then 0.2 m/s, with as little fluctuation and turbulence as possible. This envelope is considered the desired ‘neutral’ zone in thermal comfort, a zone in which human subjects are to register no stimulation and experience no sensation from the air. To achieve these performance criteria requires buildings to be hermetically sealed from the external environment and a tightly controlled airconditioned environment to be introduced. The most sophisticated of air-conditioning systems are “judged on their imperceptibility”6, with the stated aim of comfort in this sense being measured in terms of the absence of discomfort and not in terms of the presence of pleasure and delight.
Although it has been shown, with the support of quantitative data from laboratory comfort studies using analytical instruments and psychometric tools, that such a controlled environment can produce the stated outcome of minimizing thermal discomfort, there are a number of key arguments against current thermal comfort practices. Most important perhaps is the impact such a practice has on exasperating climate change and associated environmental effect. It is estimated that more then 33% of the world’s energy is used to cool, heat and light buildings, with air conditioning being by far the largest contributor of energy use.7 And with an emphasis on ever more airtight and rigorously controlled buildings, Elizabeth Shove suggests that maintaining these indoor comfort standards, “commits societies to dangerously unsustainable patterns of energy use.”8 A recent editorial in the respected professional HVAC journal ‘Indoor Air’9, raises this serious issue of climate change in context of indoor thermal comfort. However of all the suggestions made there was no mention of modifying or considering a different approach to the established methodology. This highlights how entrenched this paradigm has become. There is also much credible research that shows how such conditioned environments can have health implications,
sometimes very serious, for the occupants.10 These effects alone are enough to mount very strong arguments for revising current practice, but in terms of architecture and design an equally important issue is to be considered: how such environments impact on the occupant and limit their aesthetic experience of space.
There is however a small but growing school of indoor climate experts and engineers who challenge current practice. The model they have developed is generally referred to as the ‘adaptive model of thermal comfort’ and their studies have shown much of the empirical data collected from laboratory comfort studies to be highly inconsistent11. This model purports that humans adapt to climatic conditions and that correspondingly, geographic location and cultural and personal preferences must be taken into account. Their studies have also shown that subjects largely prefer to live and work in naturally ventilated interior environments. Importantly, further studies, largely undertaken in Japan, Korea and China12, verify that being in an emergent atmosphere, similar to ‘natural air’, allows us to feel comfortable in a relatively wide range of temperature and humidity conditions13. My investigation aligns itself with this concept of adaptability, in contrast to the highly standardized paradigm of atmospheric control and sets out to re-imagine an interior atmosphere that engages our senses as a rich aesthetic experience.
The objective is to move beyond concepts of comfort and instead explore the qualities and quality of experience. Experiences are corporeal encounters, registered by the body physiologically, and interpreted and judged psychologically. The framework within which this judging takes place is, at least in part, philosophical and cultural. Meteorological instruments such as anemometers, barometers and thermometers can not by themselves describe the qualities of an experiential encounter with air. Thus an investigation into the aesthetic qualities of air calls for a corporeal exploration, using our senses as a perceptual instrument.
It is commonly understood that we have five senses - vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste (attributed to Aristotle) - but we have at least six to nine further senses14 including temperature, pain, time, balance and motion. Sometimes we use more than one of these senses to perceive the same phenomena, such as humidity being sensed via the skin and through breathing.
Our senses also tend to work together to construct a phenomenological image of an experiential
encounter,
with
each
sense
contributing
something
different
to
our
understanding of that encounter; and it is perhaps when we experience something via a number of senses at once that the experience is at its richest. But conversely we can also derive great pleasure through closing down a number of senses to concentrate on only one, such as shutting our eyes when smelling an aroma or feeling the wind on our face.
Important also is that our senses tend to work by sensing change – our thermal receptors for example do not measure temperature but change in temperature; and they do this at an incredible level of sensitivity. We have in fact two separate senses to measure temperature, one in the skin to measure temperature at the outside perimeter of the body and one to measure temperature at the body’s core. Our senses construct sensory information in a relational manner, hot compared to cold. This becomes important if we consider notions such as comfort, which is relative and never absolute, and our ability to adapt to changing conditions. If the weather slowly becomes warmer or cooler over a period of weeks, our concept of what is a comfortable or normal temperature will subtly adjust in response. If however we suddenly go from a hot climate to a cold climate, or vice versa, the effect will be much more dramatic. The ‘adaptive model of thermal comfort’ is partly based around this premise. Thus an indoor temperature set at 23.5° C may feel cool in summer or warm in winter.
This knowledge about how we use our senses to build a phenomenological image of an experiential encounter has enabled me to begin to construct a methodology for a phenomenological study of air. If quantifiable data (such as temperature) is used it will need to be set against a framework of qualitative information. Whilst qualitative observations themselves may be most useful if undertaken in a multi-modal exploration using several senses and or methods of observation. Likewise the documentation of perceptual observations may best be done using several methods such as videoing or photographing, written accounts, drawings and sound recordings, used together to build a detailed larger picture of the experiential qualities of a complex perceptual environment such as air.
With this in mind I began my initial investigations into the aesthetic qualities of outside air by considering locations such as parks, lakes and riverbanks. Specifically I focused on observing air movement as evidenced by fluttering leaves, swaying branches and grass, the
rippled surface of water and so on. Careful analysis using video documentation indicated that air movement was not only random but also highly localized. For a brief moment I would observe leaves on one branch of a tree fluttering whilst those only meters away were completely still; before the relationship once again changed. Likewise I observed a breeze generating a small pool of ripples on the surface of an otherwise mirror-still lake15. This rippling effect was slowly moving across the lake toward me, but suddenly dissipated before it reached the shore. These were important observations because although I had previously considered outside air to be random, I had not thought it to consist of such highly localized phenomena. This clearly demonstrated that the perceptual nuances of outside air movement are both spatial and temporal. The video documentation was supported by my recorded narrative describing the perceptual effect, as well as a perceptual word-map I developed to plot these experiences16.
Figure 1. Observations of natural phenomena; outside air. Careful analysis of leaves swaying in the breeze indicates that air movement is not only random but also spatial and highly localized. Malte Wagenfeld 2007
A subsequent investigation observed the infamous billows of steam that appear so frequently from manholes, gutters, cracks and buildings in Manhattan New York. These proved to be ideal territory for observing the phenomena of natural air movement. Of particular interest became sites where there were several billows of steam rising within close proximity to each other. These once again demonstrated how spatial and randomized natural air movement was. But perhaps most noteworthy was a vigorous jet of steam that suddenly appeared from the top floor of a building opposite my hotel room in central Manhattan. The air movement, as
revealed by the steam, had a mesmerizing dance-like motion; poetic and elegant, elaborate and complex, emergent and fluid. Of particular note was the re-emergence now and again of recognizable, sometimes almost identical, patterns of air movement, some of which resembled spirals or gentle summersaults.
Figure 2. Observations of natural phenomena; Manhattan Steam. A jet of steam discharging from the top floor of a Manhattan building illustrates the random and often poetic movement of outside air. Malte Wagenfeld 2008
These observations were further verified using instruments. Four anemometers were arranged at equal intervals along a linear rig measuring five feet. The wind speed data from each of these meters never corresponded and often registered dramatically different wind pressure from each other although barely one foot apart.
To explore the more subtle air movement experienced in interior spaces required a more specialized method of visualization. The experiments were conducted in a converted warehouse in Melbourne’s inner north chosen for its particular qualities of air. The generous but intimate volume of the interior and the slightly porous old louvered factory windows combined to generate a gentle, barely perceptible, yet continuous movement of air. A spinning mirror set at 45 degrees to a laser beam was used to produce a wafer-thin sheet of light into which fog was introduced creating a planar dissection of air. The ability for light to reveal dust, vapor or smoke particles floating in the air was the inspiration behind using this technique to render the air movement visible. A small team was assembled to operate the apparatus and aid in performing various parts of the investigation17.
The experiments were devised to map a spatial topography of air currents within the interior space. Like the diagrams of blue and red arrows drawn by engineers and architects, I expected the air to behave and circulate in a predictable manner. For example, stronger air velocity was expected near the windows and floor, and less in the centre of the room or near the ceiling. However, it soon became apparent how simplistic this premise was.
Our first impression of the air movement revealed to us was of pure amazement. It appeared as a highly complex set of paisley-like patterns of gently spinning vortices that had the delicacy of fine lace. Seeing this spectacular hidden world was like being granted another sense. The air within the space seemed to be moving in no particular direction; but all directions at once. Swirling bodies of air were seen moving north south, east west, up down and crossways, sometimes slicing past each other like people in a crowd, sometimes spiraling into one another and then moving off together on a new trajectory. Now and again, larger nebula of air, about the size of an apple, would slowly rotate on their axis moving leisurely through the space at about a centimeter a second. These fine patterns of air were clearly part of a larger system of highly complex relationships created by a multiplicity of currents and interactions.
Figure 3. Slowly moving patterns of air. Image sequence of the 1st observations of the experiment using a scanning laser and fog to visualize the movement of air within an interior space. Malte Wagenfeld, Parmington, Ayyar, de Gruchy 2007
With the objective of understanding how human occupation affected air within a space we began experimenting with simple acts of habitation. A breath gently exhaled in parallel with the laser-light could be observed traveling over six meters across a room tracing a flowing trail through the patterns. The waving of a traditional Japanese fan gently shuffled the swirling vortices and hastened their movement. The opening of a door, even though it was five meters away, registered almost immediately as a flurry of activity.
Figure 4. Laser-light dissecting a woman’s breathe. A woman’s breath can be observed as it moves across a large room. Malte Wagenfeld, Parmington, Ayyar, de Gruchy, Watkins 2007 .
Most surprising of all was how the motion of our bodies impacted on the air. A person approaching the laser-light would part the fog-filled air, creating a door-like opening. Once they had passed through the light, a slightly enlarged imprint of their body was momentarily visible before the air, apparently clinging to their body, spiraled behind them closing this virtual door; an effect reminiscent of Orpheus entering the underworld though a mirror that shatters and reconstitutes, in Jean Cocteau’s film ‘Orphée’.
However when we turned on a desk fan seven meters from the laser dissection the intricate and delicate patterns of air were destroyed in an instant, replaced by a billowing body of fog; demonstrating not only how complex this system of air is, but also how fragile. The system of air had seemingly switched from a highly random but visually coherent state to an incoherent chaotic state. Not only does the air movement created by an electric fan feel different from natural air movement, but it creates a strikingly different visual image.
The experiments confirmed that air in a voluminous naturally ventilated space is constantly moving. The extent, complexity, intricacy and multidirectional nature of this movement was utterly unexpected. The swirling currents of air appear to randomly stimulate the body from all angles concurrently. This behavior of air, in part, may explain why air in a cathedral feels so different from air in a small room. Perhaps most unexpected was how occupants and their actions within a space become contributors to the prevailing system of air movement; the occupant impacts on the air and the air impacts on them.
This observation of the dynamic relationship between occupants and atmosphere demonstrated that the interior atmosphere is not only determined by the architectural space and its interactions with the external atmosphere, but animated by those inhabiting the space, their bodies and their actions. It also highlighted how the air becomes a shared and intimate medium.
This concept formed the basis of the next investigation, a series of public performance and installations that were held at the Craft Victoria gallery in Flinders Lane, Melbourne18. As part of the ‘Urban Interior’ research group, the gallery spaces and surroundings become a research laboratory to explore the spatial and temporal dimensions of the inhabited, urban atmosphere.
The first performance, ‘Visualizing Air: Phase 1’, investigated the notion of air as an element that was an integral part of the performance itself, as well as a shared medium. Lasers were arranged to visualize air in various planes generating three-dimensional and layered dissections. The performance began by revealing the effect of human breath, of first one, and gradually all four performers; each transitioning from gentler to more vigorous breathing. After some time, the performers formed a circle several meters in diameter, turned towards each other and began exchanging breaths as if they were passing a ball in a child’s game. Next the performers took turns to move through the space – beginning with gentle walking slowly progressing to skipping, running and cart-wheeling; executed one by one and then in unison and repeated from opposite directions. The impact of their actions within the space showed once again how personal acts result in a shared interaction within the atmosphere; and the air movement itself, visualized in this way, was indeed the focus of the performance.
Figure 5. Visualizing Air: Phase 1 – body, air & place. A performer reveals the effect of movement on the air within an interior space. Craft Victoria Gallery. Malte Wagenfeld 2008.
At the end of the choreographed performance, the audience was invited to undertake their own exploration of the atmosphere. One chance encounter saw two audience members move in very close proximity, but from opposite directions, through a plane of the visualized air; this generated opposing spirals of spinning air that elegantly locked into each other momentarily forming a double helix, creating a pertinent metaphor of the performance. An often cited audience observation related to how the visualized planes of air could create intimate environments within what was otherwise a large and open space. This effect was partly due to the lasers and fog generating walls of light, but it did make me begin to consider how atmosphere alone can be used to create intimate spaces. Here I think of the traditional Japanese ‘Kotatsu’ – “a small heating unit placed under a table – designed to heat individual bodies rather than surrounding spaces.”
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But open fires, radiators, space heaters and even
fans can also generate such an effect, if not as intimate.
The second performance ‘Visualizing Air: Phase 2’ explored the effect daily acts of habitation have on the interior atmosphere. One of the experiments involved the visualizing of air during cooking; steaming, pan frying and deep frying, with the cooked food later served to the audience. In this atmosphere, it was especially pertinent that we could not only smell the food during cooking and serving, but we could also visually observe the vapors carrying the smell as they traversed the air. This made for quite a synesthetic experience; further heightened once we also began to taste the food. This richly loaded atmosphere, stimulating
so many of our senses at once, revealed the importance of exploiting this type of perceptual synthesis as a concept when considering the design possibilities of interior atmospheres.
Figure 6. Visualizing Air: Phase 2 – air, habitation & space. An experiment in the visualizing the air during cooking; steam carrying aroma can be observed as it traverses the interior space. Craft Victoria Gallery. Malte Wagenfeld and Polly Watkins, 2008.
This notion of synesthesia in relation to an aesthetic encounter has some history, especially in early modern art. Richard Wagner, for example, proposed the idea of a Gesamtkunstwerk (Total Work of Art) in which visual, auditory and other sensory elements were attuned in one Gestalt experience. Whilst László Moholy-Nagy conceived of a ‘Theatre of Totality’ to synthesize the theater's essential components – space, composition, motion, sound, movement, and light – into a fully integrated, abstract form of artistic expression, and Wassily Kandinsky spoke of the phenomenon of transposition of experience from one sense modality to another.
However the converse idea, where one sense dominates within a space to create a memorable experience, is also pertinent to the designer of air in interior spaces. This was explored in the installation, ‘Crafty Smells’ where smell as the dominant sense, was used to create a spatial experience of atmosphere: the olfactory environment of the craft practitioner. The smells were collected by interviewing crafts people about what smells they most strongly associated with their craft and the environment within which they execute their work. Visitors were escorted into a long, almost claustrophobic corridor, which had been darkened and the acoustics subdued. Along the right-hand wall of the corridor were a series of shelves with
containers housing twenty-five separate smells grouped into four different crafts; carpentry, weaving, shoe-making and gold and silversmithing. Assembling the smells associated with gold and silversmithing was perhaps the most challenging, as metals do not emit distinct scents, thus the focus was on the smell of flux from soldering and polishing compounds. However the chemical reaction between sweat and some metals can produce a distinct odor. Thus visitors were instructed to rub a piece of brass in their hand for half a minute or so and then smell it; they could not see it and were unaware of the material they were holding. Although he could not place the smell, one visitor commented that it reminded him of riding on the tram to school when he was a boy and that he had never thought about this since. Melbourne’s old tramcars had brass handrails, after holding on to them for some time this smell was often very pungent on your hands. This connection between smell and spatial memory is well established. Similar observations were numerous; people tended to make strong associations with the smells they encountered with places and events from their past, even though, in most cases they could not name the material that was the source of the smell.
Figure 7. Crafty Smells 1; the smell of craft, place and materiality. A woman explores the smell of craft and materiality in the darkened narrow space. Craft Victoria Gallery. Malte Wagenfeld and Jake Walker 2008
The connection between smell and space was further explored in a second installation, ‘Outside-In Smells’. The intention was to invite visitors to consider the importance of air and smell in their experience of the urban environment. This installation was part of a work undertaken in conjunction with the designers / artists Rochus Hinkel, Michael Fowler and Ian de Gruchy. The gallery had been blacked out and on two of the three walls video and slide
images of the outside streetscape were projected, along with real-time sound. Along the third wall I assembled a series of smells that captured or simulated the types of smells encountered in the lane near the gallery and from the immediate surrounds; including diesel fumes from trucks, cooking smells from restaurants, the aroma of coffee from the cafĂŠs, stale cigarettes, and damp soil from a nearby park. Placing visual, auditory and olfactory stimuli relating to the immediate exterior urban environment within an interior space generated a form of acute spatial dislocation. Although visitors remained aware of the fact that they were in an interior environment, they became quite fascinated in observing and exploring the perceptual qualities of the exterior environment, which most likely they had paid little attention to moments earlier before entering the gallery.
Figure 8. Crafty Smells; Outside in Smells. An exploration in juxtaposing smells from the immediate urban surroundings into the interior gallery space. Craft Victoria Gallery. Malte Wagenfeld 2008
This ongoing phenomenological investigation of air, revealing a highly randomized, chaotic and dynamic atmospheric system that is enriched by smell, sound, light, moisture and the interaction of living beings, may never be fully quantified or defined in empirical terms, but these subtle perceptual qualities can be used to build a deep knowledge of our actual experience of air – its qualities and the associations it triggers, and offer a viable way for the designer to envisage, manipulate and finally replicate atmospheric phenomena for interior spaces as a design imperative.
Through the visualization of air as a four dimensional temporal-space and by building a design vocabulary from the rich array of phenomenological images humans use to describe and remember their aesthetic experience of the air, we as designers can begin to construct a
typology of air to define a particular interior space with specific qualities; imagining a potential effect for the occupant within the space as a whole and also their experience of different zones to be encountered within the space.
An analogy may be drawn to light, where descriptors to qualities such as, “direct, indirect, natural, artificial, diffuse, warm, cold, ambient, dappled and focused”
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can be used to
describe and subtly manipulate the design of a space to achieve the desired effect. Such analogies and connections with language and experiences can be harnessed and assembled into a sort of tool kit for the description, specification and design of air. And like light, the generation of these qualities of air can be devised in such a way, that the occupant has some control over them, to manipulate, adjust, explore and delight in as authors of their aesthetic experience of the air. 1
Mark Wiley, “The Architecture of Atmosphere,” Daidalos, no. 68 (1998): 18–27, pp.18. The Aesthetics of Air is a research project at the Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory (SIAL) at RMIT 3 Gernot Böhme, “Atmosphere as a Aesthetic Concept,” Daidalos, no. 68 (1998): 112-115, pp. 114. 4 ASHREA, American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers; considered the leading international body driving thermal comport specifications and standards. 5 HVAC, Heating, Ventilation & Cooling. 6 Hellen Mallinson, “Metaphors of Experience: The Voice of Air,” The Philosophical Forum, vol. 35, no. 2 (2004): 161-177, pp. 170 7 William W. Nazaroff, “Climate change, building energy use, and indoor environmental quality,” Indoor Air, vol. 18, issue 4 (2008): 259 - 260 8 Heather Chappells and Elizabeth Shove, Comfort: A review of philosophies and paradigms (University of Lancaster, 2004): pp. 24. 9 William W. Nazaroff, “Climate change, building energy use, and indoor environmental quality,” Indoor Air, vol. 18, issue 4 (2008): 259 - 260 10 for example, see Mark Mendell, “Non-Specific Symptoms In Office Workers: A Review And Summary Of The Epidemiologic Literature,” Indoor Air, vol. 3, issue 4 (2004) pp 227 - 236 11 Richard de Dear and Gail Brager, “The Adaptive Model of Thermal Comfort and Energy Conservation in the Built Environment,” International Journal for Biometeorology, vol 45, no. 2 (2001): 100 - 108 12 For example see the research of, Toshutsugu Hara, M. Shimizu (Japan) Ki Nam Kang (Korea) and Rongyi Zhao, X. Zhou (China) 13 Toshitsugu Hara, M. Shimizu, et al, “Chaotic Fluctuations in Natural Wind and Its Application in Thermal Amenity,” Nonlinear Analysis, Theory. Methods & Application, vol. 30, no. 5, (1997): 28032813. 14 there is no firm agreement among neurologists as to the number of senses because of differing definitions of what constitutes a sense 15 Experiments conducted 2006, Melbourne Australia 16 Terms such as temperature, humidity, odor, air density, and velocity form the radii of a 10 axis radii map onto which an experimental encounter with air is plotted. 17 Melbourne 2007, Malte Wagenfeld, Jason Parmington, Ian De Gruchi, Ramesh Ayyar, Polly Watkins 18 Melbourne 2008 19 Heather Chappells and Elizabeth Shove, Comfort: A review of philosophies and paradigms (University of Lancaster, 2004): 24. 20 Lisa Heschong, Thermal Delight in Architecture, (Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1979): pp. vii 2